Jenny Humphrey
Jenny Humphrey is a character in the TV series Gossip Girl and the book series of the same name. The television character is played by Taylor Momsen. Novel Series Jenny is the daughter of Rufus Humphrey, an unpublished editor of Beat poets, and Jeanette Humphrey, who ran off with a European aristocrat when the Humphrey children were little. Jenny has an older sibling, Dan Humphrey, who is an aspiring poet. She's also an aspiring artist, and a student at the Constance Billard School for Girls, a small, elite school where Upper East Side It Girls Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen reign. Jenny idolizes the gorgeous and wealthy Serena and one day hopes to be as graceful and as popular as her. Jenny's large chest, however, contributes to her insecurities, as does her short stature (standing just under 5 feet). Despite her less-than-impressive financial background and naivete, Jenny is thrown into the glamorous world of Upper East Siders when she is sexually assaulted by Chuck Bass, befriends Serena, and makes an enemy out of Blair. When she displays scandalous behavior, however, (including posing for risque photo shoots, partying with musicians, and getting kicked out of Constance) Rufus feels he must send her away. This was Jenny's plan all along, in order to cultivate a more mysterious background, like her idol Serena. Thus, Jenny decides to move to the boarding school Waverly Academy, which she plans to rule. TV Series Jenny Humphrey is the daughter of former musician player Rufus Humphrey, and younger sister of Dan Humphrey. She and her family reside in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but frequent the Upper East Side due to their careers and academic obligations. Her mother, Alison, left Brooklyn to fulfill her dream of becoming an artist. Jenny continuously tries to fit into the exclusive lives of her peers. Opposite from her novel counterpart, Jenny has long blonde hair, is very tall, and has a relatively small chest. Season 1 Jenny Humphrey is introduced in the premiere season as a naive freshman at Constance Billard School for Girls. Despite living in Brooklyn and hailing from a financial background less privileged than her classmates, Jenny desperately tries to find her place within the In Crowd. Many of the main characters use Jenny as a pawn, especially Blair Waldorf. However, when Jenny helps expose the affair between Blair and Chuck Bass, she finds herself becoming increasingly popular. The Mean Girls and former friends of Blair allow Jenny inside their exclusive inner circle. However, Jenny's lack of financial prominence provokes her to steal a dress worth $15,000 from the mother of one of the Mean Girls. When she realizes it's worth so much, Jenny desperately tries to get it back to its owner, but at a surprise birthday party thrown for her by Blair, the other girls realize that Jenny stole the dress, bringing Blair's scheme full circle. The same night, however, Jenny wins back the affection of the Mean Girls when she brings Nate Archibald along to crash a dinner party the girls are having. Since they're infatuated by Nate, the Mean Girls welcome Jenny back into their crowd with open arms. In an attempt to solidify her social status, Jenny begins dating a wealthy Upper East Sider, Asher Hornsby. Their romance is short-lived:, though, when both of their lies are revealed at their dinner party - Asher was only using Jenny as a cover-up for his homosexuality, while Jenny had been lying about losing her virginity to him. Once again, the In Crowd turn their backs on Jenny, who realizes (and proceeds to tell Blair) that popularity isn't worth losing her integrity or her friends over. In the season finale, Jenny applies for an internship for a fashion line, since sewing her own apparel has always been a passion of hers. She's less than ecstatic, however, when she discovers that she'll be interning for Eleanor Waldorf Designs, the overbearing mother of Blair. Season 2 Jenny spends her summer working hard for Eleanor Waldorf Designs. She tries to impress her boss, Laurel, by making her a dress for the upcoming White Party in East Hampton, but is rejected and humiliated when Laurel rudely turns her down. Jenny then calls Eric to apologize for her ruthless behavior last year, as well as to ask him for an invite to the exclusive White Party. Eric forgives her, saying he doesn't have any other friends to begin with, and brings her as his guest to the party, where Jenny upstages Laurel, whose respect she has now gained. Jenny is briefly fired by Eleanor, however, when the designer returns from Paris and overhears her criticizing one of Eleanor's outfits. She regains Eleanor's trust by helping her with a project and soon becomes Eleanor's favorite worker. Jenny's position is once again threatened during Fashion Week when Eleanor suspects Jenny of sabotoging the Waldorf Designs runway show and trying to steal the spotlight. When Jenny apologizes and admits to using Eleanor's original designs as well as fabric, however, Eleanor realizes that Jenny meant no harm, and that the entire show itself wouldn't have been a success without Jenny's help. Rufus eventually discovers that his daughter has been skipping school in order to work for Eleanor and avoid getting bullied. He tries to force her to quit, but Jenny instead decides to drop out of school and work for Eleanor full-time, much to Rufus's dismay. Jenny and Blair have a heart-to-heart in which Jenny admits that she idolized Blair because of her determination. Blair in turn congratulates Jenny on the fashion show and aids her mother in honoring Jenny with a toast. In "New Haven Can Wait", Rufus tells Jenny he'll give her one last chance to prove she should continue to work for Eleanor, and if she does prove it to him, he'll allow her to continue academic lessons at home. When Jenny takes him to work, however, Rufus attempts to have Eleanor fire Jenny, with no such luck. Lily's kind words convince Rufus that Jenny should be given the chance to continue to work for Eleanor, and Rufus finally concedes. Vanessa drops off the transcripts, and the girls celebrate Jenny's opportunity of being home-schooled. In "Pret-a-Poor-J", Jenny befriends a seemingly-sweet, yet reckless model named Agnes. When Eleanor attempts to exploit Jenny's designs and use them as her own, Jenny quits her internship and decides to start her own fashion line, with the encouragement of Agnes. Jenny meets some new friends who have connections in the fashion industry, but Nate does not approve. He eventually rescues Jenny from being taken advantage of by an older photographer. When Jenny angrily confronts him for lecturing her, the two share a passionate kiss on the sidewalk. Jenny crashes a crowded gala and puts on a guerrilla fashion show in order to get the attention of the partygoers (whom she figures will want to financially back her). Once seeing that her fashion show is a success, she and Nate share a passionate kiss - only to have Vanessa (who had previously dated Nate) spot them. Jenny goes after Vanessa to clear the air, but is interrupted by her father, who's angry with her for crashing the gala. Rufus tries to have her arrested, but Lily intervenes and saves Jenny. Agnes and Jenny fight for majority control of 'their' fashion line, which leads to a confrontation in which Agnes burns all of Jenny's clothes. This devastates Jenny, who gives up on the idea of starting her own clothing line. Vanessa and Jenny proceed to fight over Nate, but Nate ultimately chooses Vanessa when he sees the level of betrayal Jenny's willing to go to. Heartbroken, the blond finally decides to return to Constance Billard and challenge the Mean Girls. Now that her father, Rufus, and Serena van der Woodsen's mother, Lily, are an item, Jenny is more wealthy than she's ever been. This allows her to rise to the top of the social chain at Constance, and when her sixteenth birthday party rolls around, half of the teens in the city show up. At the end of the season, Jenny enters the competition to become Queen of Constance Billard, so that she can put a stop to the bullying and tyranny at school. This entails finding the juiciest piece of untold gossip and exposing its secret-keepers. But before Jenny can tell the Mean Girls what she's discovered, Gossip Girl herself releases a mass-blast, exposing everyone's secrets. Jenny thinks her chance at becoming Queen is over, until Blair tells Jenny that she chooses her to take over the throne. The next day, Blair and Jenny go to the new Queen's coronation, and Blair declares that Jenny knows all of the Mean Girls' secrets - not to mention the fact that, since Jenny's Lily's step-daughter, she's now richer than all of them. Jenny, no longer having any rivals for Queen of Constance, takes the symbolic headband and begins planning the new school year. 'Season 3' Jenny has adapted very quickly to the posh new lifestyle she's been entitled to. In the fourth episode, she embarks on her first day as Queen of Constance with a speech about how she will make everything different and treat everyone equally. This enrages the new Mean Girls, who tell Blair that Jenny's ruining everything she built. This leads Blair to step in and act as Constance Queen again, but with the aid of Chuck, Jenny embarasses Blair and returns to her rightful throne. She decides that Constance does need to be ruled with an iron fist, and that she'll be the one to do it, which is a major turning point for her character. Later, Jenny's forced to choose between her friendship with Eric and her role as Queen, as Eric's boyfriend threatens Jenny's social standing by sitting above her on the Met steps. She ultimately chooses her role as Queen, and embarasses Eric by turning her back and allowing her minions to dump yogurt on him. Jenny's ecstatic by the time Cotillion comes around, as she feels it's the perfect time to finally prove she's no longer the 'Brooklyn nobody' she once was. Jenny attempts to score Graham Collins, the new Upper East Side prince, as her escort to cotillion, but Eric and Blair work together to embarass Jenny and leave her dateless. Their plan backfires, however, when she gets Nate to escort her instead, impressing all of the partygoers by dating Manhattan's former prince (who, as an added bonus, is in college). Despite Jenny's high social standing, she admits to feeling more bored and lonely than she ever felt in Brooklyn. This prompts her to get involved with Damien Delgaard, the recklessly dangerous son of the Belgian ambassador. She becomes infatuated with him, and as the two begin a relationship, they also begin a drug partnership. Nate tries to stop Jenny from continuing to date Damien, but he's not the one who breaks up their relationship. Damien himself ultimately abandons her when she confesses that she isn't ready to have sex. Jenny's former model friend Agnes comes back into the picture when Jenny begins working for Eleanor Waldorf again. Although the two appear to mend their friendship, Agnes refuses to forgive and forget. Therefore, she drugs Jenny and leaves her amongst a group of grown men at a local bar. Nate finds out and rescues her at the last second. He comforts Jenny after dropping her off at home and she begins to have feelings for him again. Jenny tries to break up Nate and Serena, but is rejected once Nate discovers her scheme. She then tries to aid William van der Woodsen in his attempt to break up Rufus and Lily, feeling like if they broke up, she could have her old life back, along with her old family. Her plan falls apart, however, and everyone shuns her when they discover her deception. In the final episode of the season, "Last Tango, Then Paris" Jenny takes a picture of Dan and Serena in bed together and sends it to Gossip Girl, which motivates Blair to tell her that she's gone too far in trying to break everyone up and that nobody loves her. Feeling broken and unwanted, Jenny goes to the Empire Hotel looking for Nate, but finding Chuck instead. The two are broken-hearted and they bond over drinks, which eventually leads to a kiss. They both agree that they don't want to be alone, so they sleep together. Blair and Chuck reunite moments later, however, leaving Jenny to realize that she truly is alone. She cries at the hospital and Eric tries to comfort her, but Jenny angrily pushes him away, confessing that she had sex with Chuck and that she regrets losing her virginity to him. Eric tells Dan, who furiously punches Chuck. Witnessing the events take place and seeing Jenny's tearful eyes, Blair immediately realizes the truth and tells Jenny to leave the city forever, threating to 'destroy' her if she ever came back. Jenny ultimately decides to leave New York and live with her mother in Hudson, where she plans on finishing her senior year. Season 4 Jenny returns to New York, only to face an angry Blair - willing to do anything to make "Little J" leave town again. On her way to class, Serena spots her cuddle-buddy from the night before while entering the building. Irked, Serena is further thrown off by the revelation that he is her Psychology of Business professor, a fact that threats their relationship. Blair visits the Van Der Woodsen residence and runs into Jenny. Outraged that Jenny is breaking the rules about being "banished," and after some verbal sparring, Blair grants her "amnesty 'till midnight" if Jenny refuses to be seen while in the city. Blair seeks out Chuck at Columbia, after a brief chat with Serena about the Cab Stealer turned Professor. She asks if he knows about Jenny Humphrey's return, and warns him it will damage his reputation as well as hers if the story about Jenny's virginity is outed. After talking to Chuck, Blair assigns her minions to stake-out the Van Der Woodsen residence, in order to make sure Jenny doesn't violate the terms of her Manhattan amnesty. Dan and Eric find it strange when Jenny declines going out to one of her favorite venues, so she explains to them the terms of the agreement she made with Blair. Jenny heads up a trio of revenge-hungry ladies (Vanessa and Juliet.) Who are they after? Serena and Blair, although Serena is a more innocent target. Juliet even goes so far as to show Jenny her creepy “destroy Serena” board. But will we learn the specific reason why Juliet’s brother hates Serena so much? That’s doubtful. One thing we can count on is heaps of drama and lots of fabu couture. Family Novel Series *Rufus Humphrey (Father) *Jeanette Humphrey (Mother) *Dan Humphrey (Older Brother) TV Series *Rufus Humphrey (father) *Alison Humphrey (mother) *Dan Humphrey (older Brother) *Scott Ronsson (older paternal half-brother) *Lily van der Woodsen (step-mother) *Serena van der Woodsen (step-sister) *Eric van der Woodsen (step-Brother) *Chuck Bass (adoptive brother) Romances Novel Series Nate Archibald: (boyfriend; broke up due to Nate's reconciliation with former girlfriend Blair Waldorf) TV Series *Chuck Bass (attempted rape; years later lost her virginity to him) *Asher Hornsby (ex-boyfriend; revealed to be gay) *Nate Archibald (former crush; ex-boyfriend) *Damien Dalgaard (ex-boyfriend) Category:Characters Category:Main Characters